The Contrast Between Animality and Humanity in The Island of Doctor Moreau and Life of Pi
One of the major cultural anxieties that prevails in society is the relationship between humans and animals and the distinction between humanity and animality. Humans are often depicted as being a higher form of animal, most commonly induced by religious practices. However, upon isolation or fear of death, the human thought process tends to revert to what is associated to animal-like behaviour. Humans tend to separate themselves from animal life forms as animals are seen as vicious, brutish and capable of committing acts that humans refrain from. Because of this cultural anxiety, much of literature embodies the ideology of animality and humanity and the …show more content…
This persisting fear of death, which animals continually experience, leads humans to revert to their primitive mind set and converts their behaviours to those that are considered “animal-like”. Both novels embody this to tear down the definitive barrier that exists between animals and humans and thus challenge that societal norms about the differences between humanity and animality. In The Island of Doctor Moreau both the “beast people” and the human characters are exposed to a setting of isolation on the island, however, the human characters, such as Prendick and Montgomery, experience a constant fear of death due to the fear of the “beast people”. This persistent fear of death, which animals are exposed to continually, over time causes Montgomery to devolve into his primitive state, and consequently his behaviour shifts to what is viewed as animalistic. This is evident in when Montgomery abuses the substance of alcohol, pulls out a revolver, and threatens to kill Prendick if he does not get out of Montgomery’s way and stop preventing him from further intoxication. Prendick shows Montgomery’s devolution into his state of animality when he says, “you’ve made a beast of yourself-to the beasts you may go,” which ultimately shows that his consumption of alcohol has brought out his animalistic nature as he has threatened to …show more content…
G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and Yann Martel, Life of Pi, both set up unique plots to allow for manipulation of the common ideologies surrounding the relationships between animals and humans and the differences between animality and humanity. Both novels first allow for distinct differentiation between the two, however, over a course of long term isolation and the persisting fear of death, the differences between animality and humanity is broken down to show a correlation between the two. The factors of isolation and fear of death, that are experienced by wild animals routinely, manipulate human behaviour and ultimately result in human reversion into a primitive, animal-like states and therefore show a distinct correlation between animality and humanity that is often obscured in
One of the major cultural anxieties that prevails in society is the relationship between humans and animals and the distinction between humanity and animality. Humans are often depicted as being a higher form of animal, most commonly induced by religious practices. However, upon isolation or fear of death, the human thought process tends to revert to what is associated to animal-like behaviour. Humans tend to separate themselves from animal life forms as animals are seen as vicious, brutish and capable of committing acts that humans refrain from. Because of this cultural anxiety, much of literature embodies the ideology of animality and humanity and the …show more content…
This persisting fear of death, which animals continually experience, leads humans to revert to their primitive mind set and converts their behaviours to those that are considered “animal-like”. Both novels embody this to tear down the definitive barrier that exists between animals and humans and thus challenge that societal norms about the differences between humanity and animality. In The Island of Doctor Moreau both the “beast people” and the human characters are exposed to a setting of isolation on the island, however, the human characters, such as Prendick and Montgomery, experience a constant fear of death due to the fear of the “beast people”. This persistent fear of death, which animals are exposed to continually, over time causes Montgomery to devolve into his primitive state, and consequently his behaviour shifts to what is viewed as animalistic. This is evident in when Montgomery abuses the substance of alcohol, pulls out a revolver, and threatens to kill Prendick if he does not get out of Montgomery’s way and stop preventing him from further intoxication. Prendick shows Montgomery’s devolution into his state of animality when he says, “you’ve made a beast of yourself-to the beasts you may go,” which ultimately shows that his consumption of alcohol has brought out his animalistic nature as he has threatened to …show more content…
G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and Yann Martel, Life of Pi, both set up unique plots to allow for manipulation of the common ideologies surrounding the relationships between animals and humans and the differences between animality and humanity. Both novels first allow for distinct differentiation between the two, however, over a course of long term isolation and the persisting fear of death, the differences between animality and humanity is broken down to show a correlation between the two. The factors of isolation and fear of death, that are experienced by wild animals routinely, manipulate human behaviour and ultimately result in human reversion into a primitive, animal-like states and therefore show a distinct correlation between animality and humanity that is often obscured in